Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to the field of language instruction, particularly a system for teaching new vocabulary words to students through interactive stories modeled with a neural network using a four-valued logic system.
Background
Language learning programs are valuable tools for teaching students new vocabulary words, or even entirely new languages. However, most existing programs teach the same words in the same ways to every student. For example, such teaching programs often teach from a predefined list of common vocabulary words. When they include audiovisual presentations, they are generally prerecorded or use the same script for each student.
Students, especially young children, often best learn through interactive scenarios. However, many existing programs are either entirely predefined or have limited options for students to interact with a presentation to ask questions or get more information about what they are seeing or hearing.
Moreover, most systems do not tailor the list of words being taught to each student. This can limit a student's understanding of the target language. For example, teaching only from a fixed list of the most common words in a target language can lead to the student not understanding less common words that are more representative of how the language is used in practice, because fluent speakers of a language do not limit themselves to only the most common words in that language.
What is needed is a language learning system that presents an interactive story to students. The system should present the interactive story to students using a vocabulary list that is individualized for each student. The interactive story should be modeled in a semantic network, such that the state of the modeled story can be evaluated using a four-valued logic system when dialog is generated or when students ask questions about the story and the system generates an answer.